Apparatus for clamping flexible material on cylinders



March 17, 1953 HOUSTON 2,631,349

APPARATUS FOR CLAMPING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL ON CYLINDERS Filed Nov. 16, 1950 4m Fred K. Houston 36 INVENTOR.

' BY /4 24 Many]? Patented Mar. 17, 1953 APPAnATus non .CLAMPING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL N CYLINDERS Fred, K. Houston, Monrovia, Calif assignor. of

one-third to Otis Wilbur Eisenhood and onethird to Sara Joyce Eisenhood, both of Los Angeles, Calif.

Application November 16, 1950, Serial No. 196,042

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to improvements in clamping devices of the type to be used in clamping sheet material.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved clamping device for holding one end of a sheet of flexible material, said clamping device beingof the type which has a cylinder with an inlet slot for the material and a core located in the cylinder, said cylinder and core being improved by providing a locking pin in the core which has a combination operator and guide fixed to it, the guide being located in a guideway in the cylinder to lead another part of the locking pin into one of two openings in the cylinder, one opening corresponding to a osition whereby the material is fixed in the cylinder and the other position being such that the material can be removed or inserted in the material receiving lot of the cylinder.

Ancillary objects and features of importance will become apparent in following the description of the illustrated form of the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a perspective view of the device;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the device taken substantially on the line 2--2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Figure 2 and showing the device in the open condition;

Figure 4 is a view somewhat similar to that of Figure 3 but showing the elements in the locking condition;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 55 of Figure 2 and showing the position of the core with respect to the cylinder such that the material may be inserted or removed; and

Figure 5 is a sectional view somewhat similar to that of Figure 5 but showing the core moved to such position that the material is locked in the cylinder.

There is illustrated a cylinder H) which may be made of any standard materials of construction, as the other mechanical parts of the device. This cylinder has end members or panels 12 and M, respectively, contacting the open ends of the cylinder. Apertures l6 and i8, constituting bearings, are provided in the end members l2 and It. These bearings accommodate the trunnions 26 and 22 cf the center body part of the core 24.

The core is located in the cylinder iii and the majority of the core is semi-cylindrical in crosssection, there being complete cylindrical end portions 26 and 28 constituting strengthening members, inasmuch as the trunnions 20 and 22 are connected to the core at these places. f.

There is a substantially fiat surface "36 provided in the core intermediate the members ZBand 28 upon which the end of the sheet 32 of flexible ma.- terial is adapted to be disposed, There is also "a smoothly curved (semi-cylindrical), surface 34 on the core intermediate the members 26 and 2 8. The emi-cylindrical surface is arranged to cooperate with the inside surface of the cylinder I!) to thereby form a clamping device, frictionally retaining the inner end of the sheet 32 of flexible material within the cylinder.

The cylinder I0 is provided with a longitudinal sheet material receiving slot 36 having its axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the core. The size of the slot 36 is such that when the sheet 32 is inserted, it fits upon the flat surface 30 of the core between the members 26 and 28.

There is a bore 38 provided in the member 26 and the spring 40 is located therein. This spring opposes the inward movement of the locking pin 42 which is also disposed in the bore 38. Accordingly, a function of the spring 40 is to press the locking pin 42 outwardly of the bore 38 in a yielding manner.

The outer end of the locking pin has a combination operator and guide 44 fixed thereto. This combination element is adapted to be fingeroperated to release the slightly larger locking part 46 of the pin 42 from one of two openings. This locking portion 46 is of such size that it will not pass through the guideway 48 but will lit in the openings 50 and 52, to thereby lock the core with respect to the cylinder.

The guideway 48 is formed in the cylinder l0 and has a longitudinal axis perpendicular to the axis of the slot 36. The openings 50 and 52 are at the ends of the guideway 48.

The trunnions are preferably multi-sided so that they may be rotated by hand, or the end panels or members l2 and I4 may be rotated, to thereby rotate the core with respect to the cylinder II].

In operation, the heet 32 is inserted in the slot 36 so that it rests upon the flat surface 3E3 of the core 24 (Figure 5). Thereafter, the end panels l2 and M are rotated, thereby rotating the core with respect to the cylinder. Before any rotation is possible, however, the finger operator 44 must be pressed inwardly, thereby urging the locking pin 42 against the opposition of the spring 40. This pushing movement release the portion 46 from the opening 52 and allows the core 24 to be rotated, at this time the combination operator and guide 44 being disposed in the guideway 48. As the core 24 is rotated, the inner end of the sheet 32 of material is squeezed between the cylindrical surface 34 of the core and a part of the inside surface of the cylinder (Figure 6).

When the core is rotated a sufficient amount, the locking portion 46 of the pin 42 comes into communication with the opening 50, whereby the spring 40 presses the locking pin 42 outwardly of the core, this causing the locking portion 46 in the opening 50 to hold the core 24 against rotation with respect to the cylinder Ill until such time that the finger operator and guide 44 is pressed inwardly manually, allowing rotation of the core 24 in the opposite direction to release the sheet 32 of flexible material.

In order to prevent separation of the end members l2 and Hi from the core 24, any standard means may be used, for example, cotter pins 56 may be passed through openings in the trunnions 22 and 20.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A device for clamping flexible sheet material, said device comprising a cylinder, end members with an aperture in each, said cylinder having a sheet material receiving longitudinal slot in the wall thereof, a core having trunnions at the ends thereof disposed in said apertures and connected to said end members, said core being disposed in said cylinder, said core having a flat surface upon which a part of the material is adapted to seat, said core having a smoothly curved surface arrangedlto cooperate with a part of the inner surface of the wall of said cylinder to form a clamp to frictionally hold the sheet material fixed in said cylinder, said slot having a longitudinal axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of said cylinder, the wall of said cylinder having an opening therein, and a locking pin carried by said core and adapted to be disposed in said opening to thereby hold releasably said core relative to said cylinder, said cylinder wall having a second opening therein circumferentially spaced from the first-mentioned opening and adapted to releasably contain said pin, said cylinder wall having a guideway therein con necting said openings, the guideway being contained in a plane substantially normal to the axis of said slot, a part of said locking pin being disposed in said guideway to retain said pin in such path of movement that it will be disposed in said openings when said core is rotated with respect to said cylinder, said locking pin being disposed in a bore in said core, a spring opposing the movement of said pin inwardly of said bore, and a combination operator and guide fixed at the end of said pin which is located in said guideway when said core is rotated with respect to said cylinder.

FRED K. HOUSTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,575,872 Strohl Mar. 9, 1926 2,066,732 Kunz Jan. 5, 1937 2,120,686 Sutherland June 14., 1938 2,146,125 Maski Feb. 7, 1939 2,553,144 Olsen May 15, 1951 

